When my 07 Bandit sits in the sun for 6-8 hours it seems to develope vapor lock. The bike starts fine, however when I start to ride the engine surges and if I pull in the clutch lever and let off the throttle the engine shuts off. Now mind you this is while moving in traffic. Sometimes it will restart while I am rolling, other times I have to quickly coast to the side of the road. If I do not pull in the clutch the surging lasts less then 30 seconds and the bike is fine after that. I am currently working with the dealership as it is under warranty but being a safety issue told the dealership I will retain a lawyer and sue under the lemon law. If anyone has had this issue please let me know.

MoMo

Next time it does it open the gas cap & see if it has pressure or vaccum. If it does there's probably a kinked vent hose or trapped liquid in the vent hose from over filling. Doesn't sound like a lemon law issue.

Originally Posted by MoMo

When my 07 Bandit sits in the sun for 6-8 hours it seems to develope vapor lock. The bike starts fine, however when I start to ride the engine surges and if I pull in the clutch lever and let off the throttle the engine shuts off. Now mind you this is while moving in traffic. Sometimes it will restart while I am rolling, other times I have to quickly coast to the side of the road. If I do not pull in the clutch the surging lasts less then 30 seconds and the bike is fine after that. I am currently working with the dealership as it is under warranty but being a safety issue told the dealership I will retain a lawyer and sue under the lemon law. If anyone has had this issue please let me know.

MoMo

Move to the UK then the 6~8hrs of sun issue will disappear as that amount is nearly a whole summers worth

Pete

Same thing has happended to me on my '08 1250, but only when entering 4th gear...now when I feel it stall, I goose the throttle and problem seems to go away. Has only happend 3 times and after stitting in sun for some time...if continues to happen will take to dealer for inspection.

You know... I have had it happen on my 91 Bandit GS400 a couple of times, but have always found if I open the tank before I start my engine, all is well.

I own a 2007 1250 bandit, the best bike I have ever own until recently, my bike would stall just about every gear, recently the problem got real bad to the point that in a distance of less than 2 miles it stalled 3 times, I paid visit to my local suzuki dealership and the first time I went they could not duplicate the problem, the second time they check the tank to see if one of the hoses were pinched under the tank and they found my charcoal canister that is part of the evap system slightly filled with old gas, the bike is still under warranty but suzuki refused to replace my evap system due to what they claim to be my fault for overfueling the tank. I have been riding for at least 10 years and I never overfilled any of my bikes, but I end up paying the dealer to remove the system since it is legal to do so in Florida. The Service department end up placing a hose from the overflow to the bottom of the bike. A few days later I notice while the bike was parked that it was spilling gas thru the overflow and I had 1/2 a tank so I went back again to the dealer, they finally saw what was happening and until this day suzuki placed a brand new gas tank that didn't solve it. So now I am waiting on a gas cap to try that to see if it solves the mistery but anyways this deal actually occurs when it is real hot weather and the bike its been sitting for at least two hour under the sun, it is almost sort of a vapor lock but then again the day that it stalled on me 3 times I open the gas cap everytime after the bike stalled and it was still doing the same thing. I will try to keep you all posted and if anyone else had something like this too please let me know so that I can inform suzuki.
Good luck, be safe out there!!

P.S. The bike doesn't stalls after the evap system was removed, but it still throws out some gas down the overflow hose no matter if the tank is almost empty. Also tomorrow I will be taking the bike to dealer to install a new gas cap.

Originally Posted by Big-E

Next time it does it open the gas cap & see if it has pressure or vaccum. If it does there's probably a kinked vent hose or trapped liquid in the vent hose from over filling. Doesn't sound like a lemon law issue.

Dear Big-E:
I think this is a real issue on the new bandit 1250, In my case I open the gas cap it never worked also the dealer check for a kinked hoses that wasn't it either and after removing everything and just attaching a hose from the overflow of the tank to the bottom of bike. How could you explain that at half a tank full fuel is going thru that hose when the bike is under the sun.
I personally think everybody who is having this issue should try routing a hose from the overflow of the tank and find out what his happening. my dealer is going to install a brand new gas cap because this bike it is also supposed to vent thru it but if this does not solve it, I guess Suzuki may have to go back to the design of the tank. So if you own a 1250 keep your eyes on this situation.

having the same symptoms on an '08 1250 w/ABS. have dale's stage 2 system installed.

Low oil shutdown in 4th gear

Saw this earlier and thought it sounded about right. But reading through this thread really makes it seem like a vapor lock issue. Only happens when the bike's been left out in the sun for a while. No issues whatsoever when taking it out from the garage. Intermittent and hard to replicate over time. Mine happens as soon as I shift into 4th. Engine gurgles/coughs, jerks around for a second or so and then cuts out. It's not immediate like when you put the side stand down. Never tried opening the gas tank. This happened twice earlier in the year, and then was able to repeat it 3x in a row last weekend after leaving the bike out in the sun for a while downtown. The gas tank had just been filled up.

Any other (more permanent) solutions?

well well. seems like more and more people are having this problem. i have a 2008 1250s, on one hot day i left my bike sitting in the sun for a couple hours. just like everyone says hit 4th gear cuts out. only did this once to me. i have seen many ways people seem to cure it by opening the gas cap. i cured it my way... i don't park it in the sun, i find a shady spot to park and have never had a problem since. until suzuki figures out what the problem is i will look for a shady spot to park.

I am also experiencing this in my 09 Bandit 1250. I have posted on a different forum regarding this issue, but wanted to copy my last post here so you all have reference:

The dealer had my bike for a full week, and told me that they could not reproduce the problem at all. It figures, but it leads me to believe some of the other posters issues with this bike.

The dealer keeps the bike in their garage all day until they take it out to test, however for me the bike sits out in a parking lot in the sun all day. So I did some testing.

1. I take the bike home from the dealer, and put it in and out of 4th with 0 problems. The bike was in the dealers garage all day.

2. The following morning i take the bike to work, and it goes in and out of 4th with no problems. Its morning, the sun is not out yet.

3. The bike is in work parking lot all day long and i take it home at 5. Its super hot outside, in the 90's. I try to take the bike in 4th, BAM stalls. Only difference in these scenarios is the bike sat out in the sun....

4. So i test more - next morning on the way to work, bike goes in and out of 4th with no problems.

5. Another hot day in the sun, before i start the bike up, i pop open the gas tank and close it again, start up, and i can take the bike in and out of 4th with no problems.....

This sort of scenario i can repeat with almost 95% accuracy. If its not sunny out, the bike seems to run fine (especially the morning). If the bike is sitting out in the sun for an extended period of time, then i seem to have problems, EXCEPT when the fuel tank is low. For the life of me i cannot seem to reproduce this issue at all when there is < half a tank of gas.

On a side note however, i think the dealer still thinks i am full of crap. Its just the way they talk to me about the issue, even when i tell them i found other people on forums with the same issue. They are however going to replace the computer in the bike, as that is what the Suzuki Rep told them to do, though i don't think that will solve the problem.

For additional notes, i have the same issue as above posters. When the bike stalls in 4th, it does not instantly shut off. It sort of chugs and gurgles until it either dies, or i bust open the throttle and fight through it.

I have had this bike since May of this year (bought brand new from the dealer) and this has happened to me since day one. Been back and forth with the dealer 3 times on it now.

And I thought it was just my Bandit .... the great value of these forums is sharing info on a bike's unique problems. My 07 Bandit 1250s with Holeshot Stage 1 suffered from the 4th gear "stutter and die". (I live in FLORIDA & park the bike outside under a cover.) I was about to take mine to the dealer and decided to take off the TFI box to make troubleshooting easier. The problem went away when the TFI box was removed. Dobeck replaced my TFI box and the problem has never recurred. But now I don't think the TFI box was the problem since so many have had the same problem with a stock bike.

The characteristics of this failure are distinctive .... gears 1 to 3 are just fine, but shift to 4th at about 30mph and the bike stutters and dies with the oil pressure light on. The bike will restart after a moment or two but will quit again when shifted into 4th.

Has anyone from a cold climate had this problem?

Originally Posted by bandit21

And I thought it was just my Bandit .... the great value of these forums is sharing info on a bike's unique problems. My 07 Bandit 1250s with Holeshot Stage 1 suffered from the 4th gear "stutter and die". (I live in FLORIDA & park the bike outside under a cover.) I was about to take mine to the dealer and decided to take off the TFI box to make troubleshooting easier. The problem went away when the TFI box was removed. Dobeck replaced my TFI box and the problem has never recurred. But now I don't think the TFI box was the problem since so many have had the same problem with a stock bike.

The characteristics of this failure are distinctive .... gears 1 to 3 are just fine, but shift to 4th at about 30mph and the bike stutters and dies with the oil pressure light on. The bike will restart after a moment or two but will quit again when shifted into 4th.

Has anyone from a cold climate had this problem?

Hmmm .. I've never had this problem with my 09 1250 ... and it sits in the hot sun quite a lot ...

But I never shift to 4th at 30mph (50ks) ... I sit in 3rd ...

Originally Posted by KiwiBandit

Hmmm .. I've never had this problem with my 09 1250 ... and it sits in the hot sun quite a lot ...

But I never shift to 4th at 30mph (50ks) ... I sit in 3rd ...

You're right - correction ... "when I shift into 4th at approximately 40mph, the damn thing dies." I have now had it happen with the new Dobeck TFI box installed. I left the cover off the bike and it sat in the sun with a 3/4 full tank, sure enough it died when I shifted to 4th. After it died, I popped the fuel cap off and on and it started right up and ran fine. The Maximum Suzuki forum has a good discussion on this problem including the fact that the ECU/EFI deliver a richer fuel mix when 4th gear is selected. Very interesting.

Is there a permanent solution to this problem? I have not experienced it since the dealer replaced my bikes computer, but it also has been a lot cooler since then. I would reckon i have this problem all over again next year when it gets warmer out.

Originally Posted by bandit21

You're right - correction ... "when I shift into 4th at approximately 40mph, the damn thing dies." I have now had it happen with the new Dobeck TFI box installed. I left the cover off the bike and it sat in the sun with a 3/4 full tank, sure enough it died when I shifted to 4th. After it died, I popped the fuel cap off and on and it started right up and ran fine. The Maximum Suzuki forum has a good discussion on this problem including the fact that the ECU/EFI deliver a richer fuel mix when 4th gear is selected. Very interesting.

That would be why it has so much grunt in fourth gear .. which unfortunately goes anywhere from 50 klicks to 200 klicks (I know .. been there in fourth gear) and gets there very fast ...

PS. That's unfortunate, because the speed limuit here is 100 klicks